“Unstoppable” is a word that gets thrown around a lot, but it’s certainly looking apt for Seth Rollins, who pummeled all of Baron Corbin’s prospective guest referees with a chair — condolences to Elias, EC3 and Eric Young, and good on Paul Heyman for wisely begging off pre-emptively — and rode the same intensity to his first one-on-one victory over Daniel Bryan before retribution came calling.
Before his night's ill-fated end, however, Rollins technically won the match twice: Rowan almost immediately administered an Iron Claw to The Beastslayer on the apron, handing Bryan (who was Wild Carded over from SmackDown LIVE specifically for this match) a disqualification loss he was more than happy to accept in the name of a statement beating of Rollins after the bout. Unfortunately for Bryan, a cavalcade of Superstars hit the scene, leading to an all-out brawl and a restart of the match with no one allowed at ringside.
It didn’t seem, for a while, like Bryan needed have bothered with the shenanigans in the first place. Even with Rollins back in the fight, The Beard held firm, locking his foe in two torturous LeBell Locks — one with an added, bow-and-arrow style tweak to it — and blocking a Frog Splash with his knees. The Universal Champion answered with a quick-strike enzuigiri and Stomp for the win, but his celebration was short-lived when Corbin came calling with a chair of his own.
Looking to remind Rollins of who, exactly, he should be worried about this Sunday, The Lone Wolf tenderized Rollins with the chair with several mighty swings, planted him with the End of Days and posed with his title. It was a powerful statement from a powerful challenger, and that’s before we even get into Brock Lesnar potentially showing up or the big question of who will serve as guest ref. For all Seth Rollins’ confidence in bending the game to his will, he leaves Raw much as he went in: Two moves behind and one eye in the dark.